chocolate

Double Chocolate Banana Bread… And Some News Too

double chocolate banana bread recipe

These days, for some strange reason, I have been craving chocolate like never before. Maybe I am just trying to find energy in all the possible places. Maybe January does this to me. Maybe it’s just hormones that are playing games with me these days (8 months preggers, have I mentioned? Oh, yes… Sorry for being so quiet about it for so long.). 🙂 Well, who knows… Maybe it’s all combined.

So, given the fact stated above, I knew my fate was sealed the moment I saw a recipe for Double Chocolate Banana Bread.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread?

Can a recipe possibly sound any more tempting and delicious?

Without any hesitation I gave this thing a try and what I realized was that I have never ever tasted a banana bread so good and my place has never been filled with a better scent than the one that was coming out of the oven while this chocolatey miracle was baking. Absolutely heartwarmingly amazing!

This recipe is really gorgeous and if you are into chocolate, you must, must, must give it a try…

Enjoy!

With lots of love,
Petra

(This recipe was adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com.)

Print
Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 loaf
 
Ingredients
  • 3 bananas (very ripe)
  • ½ cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, melted
  • ¾ cup (145 grams) brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup (45 grams) cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
  2. Butter a 9Ă—5-inch (1.9 l) loaf pan or spray it with a nonstick baking spray.
  3. In a larger bowl, mash the bananas.
  4. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the sugar, egg and the vanilla extract.
  5. Place the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, flour and cocoa powder in a sifter or fine-mesh strainer and sift over the wet ingredients.
  6. Stir the dry and wet ingredients until just combined.
  7. Stir in the chocolate chunks or chips.
  8. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
  9. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free.
  10. Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack.
  11. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  12. Enjoy!

 

Share via

I Love It When December Begins!

I simply love December.

I consider it the greatest, most magical and heart-warming month of them all.

And I celebrate every single one of its wonderful days.

Every year I buy my boyfriend this advent calendar full of lovely chocolates.

And every year he tells me that he’s not into such things all that much and I can have it.

And that is what I wait for!

Now I have my own treasure box without blaming myself for being too childish and  buying it for myself.

In fact, I am being frugal by putting it into good use, right?

I absolutely love and adore all the details of this beautiful thing.

A lovely girl lighting a candle.

A happy boy who’s just found a present.

A peaceful winter land behind the windows.

But where’s number one – the first day of this festive countdown?

No, it’s not here.

Aaaaa, here you’ve been hiding.

Gotcha!

Reveal your sweet secret to me!

Yaaay!

(I like the way the kids are looking at my fingers in this picture. They look quite curious.)

I want my chocolate right now!

Yum!

Look!

Number two.

Let me have that one as well!

Not…!

I was strong, stronger than the lovely chocolate under number two!

I am keeping it for tomorrow.

For another magical day of December.

Share via

Gorgeous Chocolate Cookies

If you are into chocolate I have something for you!

Chocolate Cookies – they are wonderful and really full of chocolate!

They are almost more chocolaty than chocolate itself.

Can you imagine?

~~~

To prepare these heavenly Chocolate Cookies you need:

8 ounces (240 grams) chopped semi-sweet chocolate; this amount will be melted

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter

2/3 cup (86 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces (150 grams) chopped semi-sweet chocolate

~~~

1. Preheat an oven to 350 F (176 C).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Chop the chocolate into chunks.

4. In the bowl of your electric mixer mix the sugar…

5. … the eggs and the vanilla extract until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes).

6. While the mixer is doing its job we can melt the chocolate with butter (not all the chocolate, just the first 8 ounces).

You can do this in a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water or in a microwave oven.

Delicious!

I had hard time trying to resist this.

7. Now reduce the speed of the electric mixer to low and add the melted chocolate mixture.

8. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.

9. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

You can set some chunks aside to place on top of the cookies.

10. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto the baking sheet.

11.  Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes.

Yummy!

This lovely recipe was adapted from marthastewart.com and makes about 12 (3-inch) cookies.

Enjoy dearest friends!

(If you’d like to see more of my posts click this.)

Share via

Chocolate Pretzels

I have experimented a bit today …

The inspiration to make these cookies comes from Martha’s Chocolate Pretzels but I have changed her recipe quite a lot.

These pretzels taste like coffee, chocolate and cinnamon all together.

Quite pleasing combination, hm?

~~~

To make these lovely pretzels you need:

1/4 cup (20 grams) cocoa

4 teaspoons instant coffee

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 tablespoons boiling water

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cup (220 grams) all-purpose flour

confectioner’s sugar to sprinkle on top

~~~

1. In a small bowl, mix together the instant coffee, cocoa and cinnamon.

(OK, you are right, there’s no cinnamon in the bowl. My brain just doesn’t work so well in the morning and I tend to forget things. I added the cinnamon as the last step.)

2. Pour the boiling water into the bowl and stir thoroughly. Set aside.

3. Put the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer.

Mix until creamy.

Then add the egg, vanilla extract and salt and mix again.

4. Add the cocoa-coffee-cinnamon mixture and beat slightly.

5. Gradually add flour, and mix until a smooth dough forms.

6. Turn out on a lightly floured counter and form a ball.

Wrap in foil and refrigerate for about one hour.

7. Preheat an oven to 350 F (175 C).

8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

9. Shape the dough into a log and cut it into 18 equal pieces.

Form a small ball from each piece.

Shape the balls into 12-inch-long (30 cm) ropes.

10. Twist each rope into a pretzel shape (I recommend doing this on the baking sheet because it might get a bit awkward to transfer them onto the sheet).

11. Some granulated sugar on top. Here we go…

Bake for 10 minutes.

12. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

If you’d like your cookies a bit more festive you can sprinkle them with some confectioner’s sugar.

These cute and delicious pretzels can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

Share via
Send this to a friend